Let Us In
by LERDM
Summary: After defeating Pitch in Burgess, the Guardians come back to the North Pole to bond, but after Bunny witnesses some strange behavior from Jack, they go back into his memories to see what's been troubling him. What they see might be more than they bargained for. Jack X OC, lots of hurt/comfort and angst abound.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One - Something's Up With Jack

* * *

After defeating Pitch in Burgess, the Guardians decided that it was time to get to know each other better, but the youngest guardian didn't seem to want to share...

"So Jack, ya got your memories back, what'd ya learn?" Bunny asked him.

Jack shrugged, "Not much, nothing I found... shocking" Jack told them, but Tooth noticed a far away look in Jack's eyes.

"Are you okay Jack?" Tooth asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good, I'm great! We just defeated Pitch, we should celebrate" Jack said jovially, but the smile on Jack's face didn't reach his eyes, and now Bunny could see it too.

"Are ya sure mate?" Bunny asked with the same tone as Tooth.

"Vriends, leave ze poor boy alone. He is tired, we are all tired. We can celebrate tomorrow, but tonight we rest" North declared loudly.

"Ooh! Sleepover!" Tooth exclaimed excitedly.

"You and Jack will share room" North said looking at Bunny and Jack.

"Sure, some sleep sounds good to me right about now" Jack agreed.

Later that night in Jack's dream...

"Jack, Jack!" Catherine called to him. She was wearing her favorite dress, a pale blue that nearly matched her eyes, with white lace that nearly matched her hair.

"Did you hear?" Catherine asked him, and it snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Heard what?" Jack asked her, his then brown hair blowing in the cool October winds.

"Well, a new family is moving into town, they came all the way from London! They're supposed to get here today" She told him.

Suddenly an ominous carriage pulled up, it was driven by large black horses, and it reeked of death. A tall man stepped out of the carriage and pointed his walking stick at Catherine.

"I want her" he said simply, from out of nowhere two men grabbed her and began dragging her away, she kicked and screamed at them, but they wouldn't let her go, Jack ran after her, and suddenly, it was dark and many of the houses were on fire, but he kept chasing after her and suddenly the were in a clearing together. Jack could hear the growling of wolves all around them, and knew with instant dread that they were surrounded, Catherine turned to him, her dress was bloody.

"Jack, you have to run, go, go!" she shouted, but then there was the deafening noise of a gunshot, and Catherine was laying on the snow covered ground, slowly being surrounded by a pool of red. Blood, so much blood...

Jack awoke with a start, tears were streaming down his face, but he made sure to be quiet, so that Bunny wouldn't wake up. He looked down at his shaking hands and went to the window to get some fresh air.

Bunny had been awake all night, Frostbite here was sure a loud sleeper, but as the night progressed on, he began to mumble and toss and turn, and Bunnymund realized that Jack was having a back dream. Bunny was about to wake Jack up, when he woke himself with a start. Bunny could tell Jack was crying, and his hands were shaking. Bunny pretended to be asleep so that he could observe Jack more. He watched as Frost walked towards the window, he put both hands on the sill and looked out at the moon.

"I guess you took my memories for a reason, so I wouldn't drive myself insane after having that dream every night for hundreds of years. So I wouldn't miss them every day of my life, miss her..." Jack trailed off, "Thanks for taking them, part of me wants them gone again, why didn't you do this to her too? She was always talking to you like she knew someone was there, maybe she did..." Jack trailed off again before turning away, "Don't worry, I don't expect a response." Jack walked back to his bed and went to sleep again pretty quickly, and Bunny made a note to tell Sandy that Jack might need some better dreams in the future.

The Next Morning...

Jack hadn't woken up yet, so Bunny decided to convene a meeting.

"I'm tellin' ya, something's up with Frost" Bunny finished, as he told them the nights events.

"I knew it, something just wasn't right with him ever since he got his memories back" Tooth added.

North shook his head, "If something was ze matter with Jack, he vould tell us"

"I would tell you what?" Jack asked coyly from the arched doorway.

"Jack, we're worried about ya mate, last night ya barely slept" Bunny said.

"I-yeah I didn't, but it was just a dream, I'm fine though, a missed night of sleep isn't really that big of a deal." Jack said, but was met with unbelieving glances.

"Jack... Aster heard what you said" Tooth said again with concern.

"I-I don't know what you want me to say, I won't tell you, and I really don't appreciate the secret meeting" Jack said, and the rest of them looked down. Sandy began to create scenes out of golden sand, but no one was really sure what they meant, and after a few seconds he gave up, and the discussion continued.

"Vhy vould you not tell us Jack?" North asked, "If something is bothering you, you can share it with us, ve are family now."

"I just-" Jack was cut off as a moonbeam shone through the skylight and onto a pedestal.

"Oi! Manny! Tell Jack-o here he's being a right bloody wanker" Bunny said, speaking at the podium.

A boy with a staff appeared in the moonlight, representing Jack, the other guardians appeared, but they were on the other side of a wall.

"Oh! I got it!" Tooth exclaimed, "You think that we are separated from Jack because of what we don't know?" Tooth guessed.

The moonlight disappeared, but it left behind what looked like a memory canister, but it was blue, and pulsating. Tooth reached to grab it, but Jack swatted her hands away.

"Please don't" Jack said, "Please don't make me watch that again." Tooth and Bunny shared a very concerned glance, and before anyone else could say anything, Sandy had snuck behind Jack and grabbed the canister. He opened it and the whole group was surrounded by a bright blue light, and all sucked into the box.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Into The Rabbit Hole

* * *

After being sucked into the blue box, they found themselves standing in a snow covered clearing, the guardians looked around.

"Well, that didn't work" Bunny said, annoyed.

Jack rolled his eyes and pointed behind them to a small town of little wooden houses that had been Burgess in 1702.

"Oh look!" Tooth squeaked, "It's Jack!" she said as she saw a young boy who was facing away from them. The boy had white blonde hair like Jack had now.

"No, that's not me" Jack told them, "I didn't have white hair back then". He looked around and spotted himself sitting outside in the snow, he remembered what was happening today. "I'm over there, my sister, today is her birthday" he said as he points.

Bunny and Tooth glanced at each other, "What'da mean ya hair wasn't always white?" Bunny asked.

"If we're doing this, I'm leaving you in suspense" Jack said as they made their way over to his younger self.

 _A man that looked a lot like Jack left the small house and sat down beside Jack._

 _"Oh Jackkie, your sister is stubborn, she just doesn't want to get out" he sighed._

"Who is zhat?" North asked.

"That is my father" Jack replied.

 _"How do you know it's a girl?" Young Jack asked his dad._

 _"Call it a father's intuition, I knew you were a boy too"_

 _"Really, because mom told me you thought I was a girl too"_

 _"Don't listen to your mom, she's full of baloney", Jack laughed. A woman came out of the house and nodded at Jack's dad._

 _"Well Jack, looks like we can meet your sister now"_

"How old were you there Jack" Tooth asked.

"I was seven"

"What's her name?" Tooth cooed as the wall of the small wooden house became transparent, and they could see Jack holding her.

"Her name was Emma" Jack told them, "She was a handful"

The memory began to fade, and new one replaced it.

"Where are we now?" Tooth asked as the scenery around them changed to springtime.

"I'm not sure I-" Jack suddenly stopped talking and he looked like he had seen a ghost. He was staring at someone behind them, the guardians turned and saw a young girl. She was quite pale, and had hair the colour of moonlight and eyes as dark as the night sky. Jack smiled, "This is three years after the first one." They all quieted down as the memory began.

 _"Wow... She so pwetty" little Emma said, looking at the girl. She toddled away from Jack without him noticing, and walked right up to the girl. Emma pulled on the skirt of her dress, the girl looked down to the small child smiling. "You are soooo pwetty" Emma told her._

 _"Aww, thank you, what's your name?" she asked Emma, in the back ground, Jack realized that Emma was no longer walking beside him and was looking frantically around him._

 _"My name's Emma" she told her._

 _"Well, Emma is a really pretty name for a really pretty girl, I'm Catherine" the girl, Catherine, told her, but she noticed Jack freaking out, and spoke to Emma again, "Is that your brother?" she asked while pointing to Jack._

 _"That's my bwig bwother Jwack!" she cried happily. Jack whipped his head around, hearing Emma's voice, saw Emma and walked quickly towards them._

 _"Emma! You can't just wander off like that, I-" he froze as he looked at Catherine._

"Haha! You liked her don't ya mate?" Bunny asked Jack teasingly.

Jack smiled, "Yeah, I did." But then he got the sad look in his eyes that they had all seen earlier and quieted down.

 _"Hi, I'm Catherine. You're Jack?" Catherine asked him with a sweet smile._

 _"Yeah, I'm Jack," Jack paused, "I haven't seen you before." he stated, it was meant to be a question._

 _"No, I just moved here with my father yesterday" Catherine told him._

 _"Well, do you like it here?" Jack asked._

 _"Yeah, it's beautiful, but I don't really know anyone" She said._

 _"Well, now you know me. I'm Jackson Overland." Jack said as he held out his hand for a handshake._

 _"I'm Catherine Nocte-Caelum" she said and shook Jack's hand._

"Aww! You two are so cute!" Tooth squealed.

"Well, don't get too attached" Jack said ominously.

The rest of the guardians looked at him, but before any other comments could be made, they were shot into a new memory.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Delve Deeper

* * *

 _The first thing they saw in the next memory was Catherine and Jack playing tag. Catherine was racing up the side of the hill as fast as she could with the heavy dress she was wearing, and Jack was quickly catching up. She looked over her shoulder and slowed down, knowing Jack would catch her anyways. Jack did not slow down, and instead accidentally propelled both of them down the other side of the hill._

Tooth cooed, while in the meantime both Bunny and North were feeling quite concerned about Jack's ominous comment earlier.

Jack took a few steps closer to his younger self and Catherine, they appeared to only be 12 in this memory.

 _Then a small figure appeared on the top of the hill, it was Jack's little sister, Emma, she was five years old now. She too rolled down the hill and they all were in a heap at the bottom of the hill all laughing and being happy._

 _Then they could faintly hear a woman's voice in the distance yelling, "Jack and Emma! Supper's ready"_

 _"Coming!" young Jack shouted, he and Catherine got up and Jack carried Emma back up the hill where they could see the small village._

 _"See you tomorrow Jack!" Catherine called over her shoulder._

 _"Bye Kitty!" Emma called._

"Why'd the ankle bitter call 'er kitty?" Bunny asked.

"Sometimes I called her Cat and Emma got confused." Jack responded, smiling fondly.

They entered another memory, they were all older.

"How old are ya 'ere Jack?" Bunny asked.

"We were 14 I think." Jack said distantly, he was never taking his eyes off of Catherine.

 _Catherine was leaning against a tree reading a book and Jack was playing with his friends a little bit away._

 _Jack came running over to Catherine and said, "Hey Cat, want to come play?"_

 _Catherine looked up from her book and smiled at Jack, she looked past him and saw the other boys sneering in their direction, her smiled slightly faltered and she replied, "No, I'm just gonna finish my book, but thanks for asking." Catherine said._

 _"Are you sure, it'll be fun." Jack said._

 _"Yeah I'm sure. Go have fun." Catherine replied._

 _"Alright..." Jack said, looking at her strangely._

 _He walked back to the group of boys, one of them asked Jack "Why'd yous ask 'er ta play?"_

 _"Because I thought it would be fun." Jack replied._

 _"My mom told me to stay away from her." Another one said, "Ma said that she has the eyes of a demon and the hair of an angel."_

 _"Um, well I-" Jack stuttered, unsure what to do._

 _"My Ma says she's a freak." yet another boy said to Jack._

 _"No she's not!" Jack shouted finally. This made Catherine look up from her book again, only to see Jack walking quickly over to her. "Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked her._

 _"Umm..." She started, looking behind him to see the boys glaring at them, "Okay."_

The memory began to fade as the two walked into the woods chatting.

"Vhy did zese boys dislike her so much?" North asked.

"I really don't know, she was just..." Jack paused looking for the right word, "She was different I guess, people in this town never liked the unknown."

Bunny hummed in agreement and so did Tooth.

The next memory that came forward was during the winter time, Catherine and Jack were walking through the snow covered forest around sunset. "We're 15 here I think." Jack told them.

 _"I'm excited for Christmas." young Jack said._

 _"Me too, but I don't see why you are, all you're gonna get is a big sack of coal." she said smiling._

 _"What do you mean?" Jack asked, confused._

 _"You've pranked everyone in this town, they literally call you a little devil." Catherine told him laughing, "Although that might also have something to do with me."_

 _"What?" Jack said, immediately stopping, the smile falling off his face._

 _"Oh come on! You think I don't know what the people in his town think of me?" Catherine said._

 _"But that's -" Jack started but was cut off by Catherine._

 _"Not true. I know, I don't care. Their words flow over me like a river over rocks." Catherine said._

 _Young Jack was silent for a moment before saying, "Yeah but the river eventually wears down the rocks until they're small enough to whisk away."_

 _Catherine smiled, "Bad example."_

 _Jack replied, "I don't think so."_

 _They simply looked at each other for a few moments before Catherine broke the eye contact by looking down, Jack looked at her worriedly and grabbed her hand, she looked back to him with questioning eyes, "I don't think care either." he told her._

 _"I know." Catherine said smiling again, she looked up to the quickly darkening sky, "We should head back before it gets too dark."_

 _"Yeah." Jack replied._

 _They began to walk back towards the village, and they could see the smoke rising from the many chimneys when Catherine started to cough and momentarily stopped walking._

 _"Are you okay?" Jack asked her._

 _"Yeah, I'm-" she cut herself off with coughing, much more violent this time, she clutched her chest as she fell to her knees in the snow and as she coughed, splatters of red began to speckle the white snow._

 _"Katherine you're sick, we need to get you to your father right now." Jack said._

Now-Jack explained, "Her father was a doctor," he paused, "More or less."

"Oh no! Is she going to be alright?" Tooth asked, and all the Guardians looked to Jack with concern, but he remained silent.

 _"Can you walk?" Jack asked her._

 _"Yeah." she said nodding, but when she went to stand up her knee's buckled and she fell._

 _"So that's a no." Jack said, it made Catherine chuckle slightly, which caused her to cough even more._

 _He quickly scooped Catherine up and the memory faded._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Even Deeper Still

* * *

 _The next memory began with Jack sitting on the porch of a house. The door creaked open and an older man came out of it, "Can I see her?"_

 _"No, she's still too sick." The man spoke gruffly._

 _Then time began to move very quickly, Jack sat on the porch all day, and then when it got dark he went home, the next day at sunrise Jack was back on the porch and time slowed back to normal, the door opened again and the man came out and simply said, "Go away boy." before he slammed the door shut._

 _Jack did not leave, and stayed again until nearly sunset, when the door opened again._

 _The man asked Jack, "Why are you still here?"_

 _"I want to know if she's okay, why won't you just tell me that?" Jack asked._

 _"Honestly? Because I don't like the way to look at my daughter." he said gruffly._

 _Jack blushed and immediately broke eye contact._

Bunny and North were laughing very hard, Tooth and Sandy were smiling widely, and even Jack was smirking a little.

 _"But," the man, who had been revealed to be Catherine's father said, "I'd rather have her out running around with you than her being alone."_

 _Jack looked back up towards the man, "Will she be okay?"_

 _"I don't know, but she is the luckiest person I know, I swear it's like she has someone in the sky looking out for her." Catherine's father looked Jack over for a moment, "Go home, when she's well enough to see anyone you'll be the first person I find."_

 _"Thank you sir." Jack said._

 _"It's Doctor to you." he said before slamming the door._

"Mate, he did not like ya." Bunny said to Jack.

"He never did, I wonder what ever did happen to him after everything." Jack said quietly.

This prompted the Guardians to share a collective worried expression.

 _The next memory began with Catherine's father leading Jack up to the house._

 _"She's still tired, so you can't talk for too long." he told Jack._

 _"Yes s-Doctor" Jack corrected himself._

 _Jack walked into the fairly small home and Catherine's father pointed to the door on the left side of the home. Jack opened the door and was greeted with the sight of Catherine alive and well, sitting on top of her sheets reading a book._

 _"Jack!" she said happily. "Come sit." she added, patting the space beside her._

 _Time began to move quickly again, and eventually the memory ended with both Jack and Catherine asleep._

"Aww!" Tooth said.

"You two est very cute." North said.

The next memory started and Jack immediately recognized it. "Manny! Not this one!" He shouted upwards.

"What's wrong mate? Embarrassing?" Bunny asked teasingly.

Jack rubbed his forehead, "Not exactly."

Tooth and Sandy shared a confused glance, and the memory began despite Jack's protests. They were suddenly standing on a grassy field that

I _t started with Jack pushing aside the thick branches of a tree to reveal a beautiful lake that had been completely hidden by the forest._

 _"Catherine!" Jack called behind him, "I found it!" He pushed through the bush and emerged into the guardians field of view._

 _"I won't lie, I was beginning to doubt your navigational skills." Catherine said, and as she to came through the bushes the guardians were shocked, she had grown quite a bit from the last memory they had seen, she was about two inches taller and she had grown into her figure, she was gorgeous._

Jack laughed at the other Guardians faces, "Yeah, the boys who had made fun of her were biting their tongues that summer." he told them.

 _Catherine and Jack had waded into the water about ankle deep, Catherine was holding up her dress so it wouldn't get wet, and Jack had rolled up his pants. When Catherine wasn't looking Jack scooped up a handful of water and dumped it on her head. She squealed and turned around with a smirk on her face, "Oh you're so on!"_

 _She kicked a bunch of water up at his head and he splashed her back, eventually they were both soaked head to toe and waded back to shore laughing, they sat down on the grassy shore._

 _Catherine laid down and Jack followed suite, "It's cold now that we aren't in the water." Jack said._

 _Catherine reached out to him and grabbed his arm and said, "You're cold?! I'm freezing compared to you!"_

 _"Jesus, you're freezing Catherine." Jack said, sitting up._

 _"Yeah because my dress is soaking and that water was not warm." Catherine said standing up and reaching behind her._

 _"What're you doing?" Jack asked._

 _"I'm taking it off." Catherine replied as if it was obvious, Jack blushed. She made quick work of the outer layer, and all that was left was a tight fitting white dress that came to just past her knees._

 _She laid down beside Jack again and curled up beside him, trying to warm up. Jack put his arm around her and they just laid there for a while before Catherine started laughing._

 _"What's so funny?" Jack asked smiling._

 _"What would those old gossipers think of this? I can just imagine them all falling dead at the sight." Catherine._

 _"They would say, 'those godless children doing inappropriate things in the woods'." Jack said, doing his best impression of the old women in the village._

 _Catherine hummed in agreement, "They're probably right."_

 _Jack furrowed his eyebrows, "Wha-" he was cut off._

 _Catherine kissed him, and the memory faded._

Jack sighed in relief and yelled, "Thank you!" upwards, presumably to Manny.

"Vhat?" North asked, "I do not understand."

"Something tells me that this little scene 'ere continued for a little bit eh?" Bunny mostly commented.

Jack blushed even more than he already was, "Things may have..." Jack shook his head, "You know what, no. We're not talking about this. Next!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - The End is Nigh

* * *

 _The next memory began with Jack chasing Catherine through the forest, they were both laughing, and when Jack caught up to her he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her._

"Est very cute." North commented.

"Jack?" Tooth asked, now feeling slightly ill, "What did you mean when you said we shouldn't get too attached?"

Jack did not answer and continued to keep watching the memories.

 _Catherine pulled away and pecked his cheek, "We need to go back."_

 _"What? Why?" Jack asked her, confused._

 _"Because that new guy, what's his name, Burgess something I think, is arriving today."_

"Ah, vat est ze founder of Jamie's town no?" North asked Jack.

"Yes." Jack answered curtly.

Bunny eyed Jack curiously while North continued, "Ah must have been good man no?"

"No, he was **not** a good man." Jack said through gritted teeth.

North and Bunny shared concerned looks, and they all continued to watch with much more concern than before.

 _Catherine and Jack approached the town and Jack asked her, "So who is this guy?"_

 _"I don't know, all the gossipers said was that he was rich, single, and young. In that order." Catherine told him._

 _Jack laughed as they went to go stand beside Emma._

 _Emma immediately looked up at Catherine and said, "New people! The last time we got new people was you, I hope that we get someone good this time too."_

 _Catherine laughed and patted Emma's head, Jack looked at the girls and smiled._

 _Then, from around the bend in the road that lead into their town, came a black carriage with two black horses pulling it._

Jack began to pace, and the guardians began to become even more concerned than they already were.

 _The carriage stopped, and out from it emerged a tall, muscular, dark haired man. He looked around with a sinister grin, and his eyes combed the crowd and landed on Catherine._

The memory faded and before anyone had time to say anything the next memory began.

 _Catherine and Jack were approaching a bonfire with a bunch of people already surrounding it. Jack and Catherine sat down on one of the logs that were placed all around the fire._

 _Jack opened his mouth to say something to Catherine, but before he got a word out Emma ran up to him and said, "Jack dance with me!"_

 _"But of course mi'lady." Jack said theatrically. Catherine smiled at them as they walked away. She watched them dance around the fire, and didn't immediately notice the dark figure that had taken Jacks place beside her._

 _"Good evening." the man said, it was Mr. Burgess from the previous memory._

 _"Good evening." Catherine replied._

 _"If you don't mind me saying so, you have a slight accent, where from?" he asked her._

 _"I was born in St. Petersburg, and I've lived in both Paris and London before moving here."_

 _"Ah, I myself lived in Paris and London for quite some time." he added. They sat in awkward silence for a moment before he continued, "My apologies, I do not believe we've been properly introduced. My name is James Burgess."_

 _"Catherine Nocte-Caelum" Catherine told him._

 _"Tell me Catherine, the man that girl is dancing with," he began, pointing to Emma and Jack, "Is that her husband?"_

 _"No." Catherine answered immediately, "That's her older brother Jackson."_

 _"Ah, so I can presume that she is not promised to anyone at this time?"_

 _"No, but she's only ten years old, still a child." Catherine told him, and it was evident on her face that she was starting to realize that this man was not of good character._

 _He let out a sinister laugh, "You are right, she is a child, nevertheless I find myself attracted to those with a youthful glow." He turned to face more towards Catherine, getting slightly too close for comfort, "You're young aren't you Catherine?"_

 _"I'm seventeen." Catherine said tightly._

 _"Ah." he said, "Well I must admit, you've been holding my gaze." He brushed his hand against her side and she shivered slightly, "I've never seen a woman like you before, you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen."_

 _Through clenched teeth Catherine responded, "Thank you."_

 _"I hope to be seeing much more of you Catherine," he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You'll make a fine wife."_

 _He stood and left just as Jack finished dancing with Emma. Jack and Emma came and sat beside her, "Are you okay?" Jack asked her._

 _Catherine stood abruptly, "It's a little smokey, I just need some fresh air." she said, as she walked towards the forest._

 _Emma looked at Jack, who was watching her leave with a confused expression on his face, "Follow her!" Emma said._

 _This slightly startled Jack, but then he looked at Emma and then back to Catherine. He jumped up and ran after her._

Everyone was shocked, there was a tear welling in Tooth's eye. Jack's jaw was clenched and his pacing continued.

Bunny said quietly to North, "Maybe Frostbite was right, maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"Nyet, nyet. Ve must do vis, for Jack." North responded.

Bunny looked at Jack's nervous pacing, "Are ya sure about that mate? Cause Jack don't look too good right now, I think we gotta start wondering if we did this for 'im or for us."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Welcome to my Nightmares pt. 1

* * *

 _The next memory began with Jack walking up to Catherine, who was sitting against a tree sketching something. The leaves were red and orange, autumn had just arrived._

Jack walked up behind her and caught a glimpse of what she was drawing, "Guys, look." he said to the other Guardians.

They all came and huddled around Jack, and they all gasped. It was an impeccable drawing of Pitch Black. They didn't have too long to examine it further, because she shut the book as memory-Jack approached.

 _"Catherine?" Jack said cautiously._

 _"Hey Jack." Catherine said._

 _"Are you okay?" Jack asked her, Catherine looked at him questioningly, "You look tired Catherine." She sighed, and moved to stand, but Jack sat down beside her and grabbed her hand,"Catherine, I'm worried about you, you haven't been yourself."_

 _"Honestly?" Catherine asked, looking into his eyes, he nodded. "I haven't slept in two days because whenever I close my eyes I see terrible things and I'm exhausted from trying to avoid James, and my dad's just been on my back." She sighed deeply, "I'm so tired Jack."_

 _Jack looked at her fondly, and she yawned, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and he said quietly, "Go to sleep Catherine, I won't go anywhere."_

 _"M'I don't wanna sleep." Catherine moaned, but her eyes were already closing, and she was asleep as her head hit Jack's shoulder._

The memory ended and Bunny asked Jack, "Why was 'er father on 'er?"

"Oh don't worry, that traumatic memory is just around the corner." Jack deadpanned.

Tooth looked down, watching Jack's memories was something that they were all starting to regret, even Sandy.

 _The next memory began with Catherine and Jack walking through the woods, the leaves were falling everywhere and they were wearing warmer clothes._

 _"They've almost finished building his palace." Catherine said regretfully._

The Guardians didn't need to ask to know who she was talking about _._

 _"Are you going to the party next week?" Jack asked her._

 _"Unfortunately." Catherine told him._

 _They walked a little longer in silence, and the sun began to set, "We should be getting back." Jack said._

 _"You go, I'll just be a minute." Catherine told him._

 _"You sure?" He asked._

 _"Yeah."_

 _Jack hesitantly walked away, but from the Guardians view they could see that he didn't really leave, but hid behind a tree._

 _Catherine sat down cross-legged and she looked up to the moon, she spoke, "What do you do? You sit up there and you watch us. Why don't you do something, do anything? We could really use your help, I-I could really use your help." She paused. "There's something coming, I can feel it. Please help us."_

Jack's eye's narrowed, "She told him." he said, realizing something, "She told you and you did NOTHING!?" he yelled up to Manny.

"Jack?" Tooth started sadly, "What happens to her?" there were tears in her eyes, and if this were normal circumstances, then Jack might've had a bit of sympathy, but he didn't, not one bit.

"Oh no, no, no. I told you! I told you that this wasn't a good idea and you didn't listen. So now I'm going to let you watch knowing as much as I did, and like I did, you aren't going to realize what went wrong until it's too late. Isn't this what you all wanted?! Well welcome to my nightmares."

They were all stunned at Jack's outburst, they had never really seen him like this before. The silence was thick as the next memory began.

 _The next memory began with Emma and Catherine walking together on a dirt path, Jack was a little behind them tying up his shoe quickly. They were all in their best clothes that night, and as they rounded the corner, they came upon a fairly large home._

 _The memory jumped ahead, and now they were in a crowded ballroom of sorts, there were very few people dancing, and the ones that were were doing so poorly. The music they were playing was more reminiscent of a waltz, less so of the folk dancing that was usually preformed at large gatherings like this._

 _Catherine was chatting on the outskirts of the circle with Jack and his parents._

 _"You look lovely tonight Catherine." Jack's mother said fondly._

 _"Thank you." Catherine said, blushing slightly, she looked momentarily to the floor and Jack's father took the opportunity to elbow him in the side and jerked his head in Catherine's direction._

 _Jack whispered to him, "I don't know how to dance!" His father shrugged._

 _Then, all of the sudden, James Burgess was behind Catherine and he tapped her on her shoulder._

 _"Catherine, a pleasure."_

 _"I assure you it's all mine." Catherine said stiffly._

 _"You learned how to properly do a Russo-Parisian waltz as a child did you not?" He asked._

 _"Oh, I did, but it has been many years, and I'm afraid that I don't remember most of the steps. As you know, it's quite complicated." Catherine told him._

 _"Have you seen the other dancers? You'll do just fine if you would do me the honor..." he trailed off._

 _Catherine paused a moment and looked over her shoulder, momentarily making eye contact with Jack, who continued to stand there silently. "Of course."_

 _She placed her hand in his and he lead them to the dance floor, much of the chatter quieted down, but the Guardians could hear some whispering along the lines of, "Why would he want to dance with her?" and "This will be interesting."_

 _The music began again, and they began to dance, the movements came much more natural to her than she had expected after all this time, and before she knew it, she had completely gotten into it._

 _"You seem to remember just fine, Catherine. Might it have something to do with young Jackson? Wanting to make him jealous?" James asked her. She didn't respond, and focused on the lift coming up, he twirled her in the air and brought her back down without a hitch, they continued dancing and Catherine continued her silence. "The silence indicates a resounding yes by the way." he said quickly before they both spun around._

 _"We're the only ones dancing." Catherine said shyly._

 _"We're the only ones that know how Catherine."_

 _Over with Jack's family, his mother was saying, "That's a beautiful dance, where's it from?"_

 _"Russia I think he said." Jack's father replied._

 _Jack's eyes were glued to Catherine, "What is wrong with me?" he said quietly. Both his parents sent him looks of sympathy._

 _On the floor, James said quietly to Catherine, "Meet me in the study, I have something private I need to talk to you about."_

 _The music faded and the dance ended, there was a spattering of applause, but many were still confused by the exchange. James went back to intermingle with some of his more important guests, and Catherine, instead of going back to Jack's family, walked out of the ballroom entirely._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Welcome to my Nightmares pt. 2

* * *

 _The memory followed Catherine outside, she sat on one of the benches on the porch, she was playing with her necklace. Then, Jack's mother came out and sat beside her._

 _"You're a lovely dancer," she told Catherine._

 _"Thank you," Catherine responded quietly._

 _"No Catherine, thank you," she said. Catherine raised her eyebrows in confusion, Jack's mom elaborated, "Jack knows a lot of people, he's very friendly, but he's only ever had one friend." She paused, "He doesn't want that to change because he took a step that neither of you was ready for." She laughed a little, "But I think he just realized that you're ready." Jack's mother stood, but before she left she added, "I would love to have you be a part of our family."_

 _Catherine sat there on the porch for a few more moments playing with her necklace before standing and re-entering the house, presumably to go meet Mr. Burgess in his study._

 _The memory cut back to the ballroom, where Jack, his father, and Catherine's father were all standing and talking to each other._

 _"How's Gregory's leg?" Jack's father asked._

 _"He'll live, but it won't be the same." Catherine's dad replied._

 _Catherine re-entered the ballroom, looking even paler than usual. James followed not long after, looking very smug._

 _Catherine stood beside her father and said, "This is mom's dance."_

 _"I know, she loved this waltz." He replied, he obviously did not like talking about his late wife._

 _"You always said that you would do anything to get to dance with her again, I know I don't look like her, but..." Catherine trailed off._

 _Her father smiled at her and took her hand and they went to the floor, as they began to dance._

 _"Catherine, did James tell you?" her father spoke._

The Guardians looked at each other with confusion, but they were too afraid to ask Jack for clarification.

 _"More like commanded," Catherine said._

 _"Catherine," he started with a slightly exasperated tone, "You will say yes won't you?"_

 _"Well, I don't see how I can refuse, especially since he threatened me."_

 _"Catherine, that boy would have never asked, you have a future with James. I'm sorry."_

 _"Not you're not," Catherine said._

 _Her father spun her away from him and suddenly she was resuming the dance with James._

 _"Catherine, I hope you've come to a decision."_

 _"Yes, I have."_

 _"Good."_

As the music slowed to a stop all the Guardians were feeling sick.

 _James took a step back from Catherine and he pulled out a box from his back coat pocket an immediate hush fell over the crowd._

 _"Catherine, you enchant me, from the first time I saw you I knew you had to be mine. Will you do me the honour of being my wife?"_

 _Catherine looked up and made eye contact with Jack from across the room._

"She gave me the chance to say something. Why didn't I?" Jack asked no one in particular.

 _"Of course, I accept," Catherine said, faking a small smile._

 _The memory faded, and the next one quickly took its place. There was now a pattering of snow on the ground, it was around one month after the previous memory._

 _Jack was playing with Emma in front of their home, they were pranking someone. As it was executed, they high-fived._

 _Then they heard bells, the fire bells to be precise. They saw all the men in the village simultaneously freeze, and then run to get buckets from their home._

"Vat ist happening?" North asked.

"There was a fire," Jack said with a slight smile.

"Why are ya smiling mate?" Bunny asked.

"You'll see," Jack said, then covered the grin that was forming with his hand.

 _Jack and Emma raced after the adults and even helped carry some buckets, they ran towards where the smoke was forming and found that the home of Mr. Burgess was on fire. Jack's eyes went wide as he searched for Catherine._

 _"Cat?! Catherine?!" He called, beginning to panic._

 _"Cat!" Emma cried and pointed to the girl who seemed to be having a heated discussion with her father._

 _As Jack approached her, he could hear the end of the conversation, "You don't know what you've done," Her father told her sternly before marching away, glaring at Jack on his way by._

"What was that all about?" Bunny asked.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know."

 _"Catherine, are you alright?" He asked, checking her over._

 _"I'm fine," She said while looking down, avoiding eye contact._

 _"Cat!" Emma cried before running over to them._

 _Catherine bent down slightly so that she could embrace the girl, and when she did, the neckline of her dress opened slightly so that a large bruise became visible_

 _Jack looked at her and the expression of relief fell off his face._

"I'm going to kill him! Where is he?" Tooth asked in outrage.

 _Catherine stood and notice Jack staring at her. She looked down at her collarbone and realized what had happened. She pulled up her dress before Emma could see._

 _"Catherine did he-"_

 _"He tried," Catherine replied with an edge in her voice._

 _Emma, Jack and Catherine looked as two men came running out of the house just as the roof of the home collapsed._

"He was still inside," Jack paused, "She never did actually tell me how this happened."

"Well that's good ain't it?" Bunny asked.

Jack shook his head slightly, "I didn't know this until after, but Mr. Burgess was... he had a deal with these bandits or mercenaries or... whatever," Jack paused, "He was paying them to cut off his competitor's trade routes. When he died... they hadn't been paid yet."

The guardians shared concerned glances as the next memory began...


End file.
